Business

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14 March 2016

The featured vocalists for 2013 were Michael Kiske (Helloween), Joey Belladonna (Anthrax), Chuck Billy (Testament), Joacim Cans (Hammerfall), Udo Dirkscheider (ex-Accept) and Floor Jansen from ReVamp and Nightwish.

Lighting this mix of metal mayhem was Nick van Balen, who is based in The Hague, The Netherlands ... an experienced designer with a particular penchant for lighting the various genres of rock music.

He chose to light the 2013 Christmas Metal Symphony entirely with Robe LED Wash moving lights - 44 x LEDWash 300s and 12 x LEDWash 600s to be preci

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14 March 2016

Five theatre organisations and one music festival will receive funding. Shared Experience will receive £105,000 over three years to support one trainee director and producer per year via paid six-month apprenticeships; Tangled Feet will receive £14,000 over two years to help fund its participation programme for young people; Manchester Royal Exchange's Young Company will receive £10,000; Chickenshed will receive £15,000 towards its Young Creators Programme; Icon Theatre in Medway will receive £9,000; and the Lake District International Summer Music Festival will receive £10,000.

Since the Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation was re-launched in 2011,

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14 March 2016

The installation was complicated by the existing mix of DMX and DALI systems at the theatre, according to Benjamin Reinhoff, project manager at Elektrik Solutions, who supplied the products and helped with specification. "We installed two Unison Paradigm systems to control the new Selador LED lighting in the auditorium and around the stage area, as well as in nearby rehearsal and side rooms. There's also a new Mosaic processor for controlling the 600 DALI lights in the 800 square metre foyer, which is used as a perfor

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14 March 2016

Offering close cooperation, SGM's French distributor, Sonoss, delivered 360 LB-100 LED Balls (measuring 30 x 12m). The company's product and project manager, Vincent Criulanscy, explains, "They were looking for a 'soft' kind of illumination; different from that of a Christmas tree - more elegant."

It is not the first time Lumière et Son has selected SGM fixtures for their projects. Previously, the SixPack LED blinder has been used to great effect for fashion shows by Yves Saint Lauren

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14 March 2016

The R-type was installed by the Athens based company in the main 500 seat Amphitheatron Hall, in the Thessaloniki Concert Hall's new M2 building, as part of a major turnkey project that included sound reinforcement, projection, conference and interpretation, video and audio relay, intercom and stage management systems. "The client requirement was for a console of the highest audio quality and reliability that was quick to install. The Cadac R-type fulfilled these demands better than any other comparable console," says Telmaco sales engineer, George Regginiotis.

Telmaco previously installed a Cadac S-type console in the central control room in the M2 building when it opened in 201

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14 March 2016

The Pulse Lighting designer is no stranger to GLP's impression series (or the U.S. Cellular Center, Asheville, NC where the show takes place). Last summer he pulled 12 of GLP's larger X4 fixtures for the Red Rocks show by Slightly Stoopid in Denver, so he knew all about the strength, intensity and flexibility of the lightweight LED sources.

For the 25th edition of Christmas Jam, Dizzy Gosnell at Bandit Lites' San Francisco office - described by Preston as "one of the best in the business" - provided 56 of GLP's X4S for the special Christmas show, enabling the technician to group 36, divided

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14 March 2016

The 2014 event welcomes new exhibitors, Allen & Heath, Chroma-Q, 5 Star Cases, Doughty and Robert Juliat, alongside Prolyte, Martin Professional by Harman, ETC, Avolites & Avolites Media, Le Maitre, Rosco, Philips Entertainment brands Selecon, Strand, & Vari-Lite, EM Acoustics, DiGiCo, Lee Filters, Sennheiser, Clay Paky, MA Lighting, Yamaha, ELC, Analog Way, Chauvet, Zero 88, Roland Systems Group, Pulsar, Swisson & Magic FX.

"We are looking forward to welcoming visitors to

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14 March 2016

Studio C is acoustically separated from the main building and features a customised 5.1 surround reference sound system by Surrountec. All the cabling and connectors for the new installation is by Van Damme, specified and ordered from VDC Trading using their new online YouSpec system, now an integral part of the VDC website.

The cabling included 24 pairs of 7m Blue EDAC90 c

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14 March 2016

Nexo's ETC programme offers convenient and affordable education, training and certification in general electroacoustic principles, and real-world practical operation of Nexo line array and point-source systems in the live production environment.

The foundation module, ETC1, has been designed for sound designers, engineers and technicians working with Nexo equipment. Taught by Nexo instructors, this two-day event progresses from theoretical classes in general acoustics, line array concepts and the case for point source systems, to practical hands-on training with Geo S12 line arrays.

Technical overviews of Nexo's pro

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14 March 2016

His secret? Switching from some standard lighting tools to over 100 pieces of Robe's smaller-brighter-lighter Robin series fixtures - Pointes, LEDBeam 100s and LEDWash 1200s... all supplied by VER in Los Angeles.

TSO's $20m-plus production has performed for more than 7m people in over 80 U.S. cities in the short duration of this leg of the tour (under seven weeks). Because of the show's popularity during the short holiday season, they created duplicate productions to simultaneously tour the East and West coasts of

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14 March 2016

BA (Hons) Music Production degree students spend the most time learning their craft with the Audient desks; in fact the individual courses, Recording Skills and Mixing & Audio Production II were both written with the Audient consoles in mind. "The main features that make the Audient an excellent tool for education is the easy to understand signal path & routing system along with great preamps," explains Englund. "Its straightforward signal path makes it very easy to t

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14 March 2016

Despite Malta's comparatively small size, frequent direct flights to many European destinations mean that customer expectations have risen in line with airport facilities on the mainland. Opened last year, the SkyParks Business Centre is a mixed office, retail and leisure development which equals anything that other European airports can offer.

The Sky Spirit Fitness Lounge is its latest facility, opened in October, featuring state of the art equipment and fitness programmes. Audiovisual equipment was installed by Fgura-based Futuretech, who ins

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14 March 2016

Inspired by the dance clubs of the nineties Hurst has put together a theatrical stage design of curvaceous trusses and Clay Paky fixtures, provided by Blackburn based hire company HSL, along with a set backed by five large video screens.

"The feeling of the new album is kind of nineties so I went for that look in my design," explains Hurst. "I remember how all the clubs were designed in circles, loads of circular tread plate everywhere so I have rigged lots of curved trusses on stage to give it that nineties rave sort of feel.

"I chose the Sharpys because I needed a small, lightweight fixture that was easy to rig but can still produce a bright enough beam to punch through all the

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14 March 2016

For several years, Berlin-based rental company artecom Veranstaltungs GmbH has favoured Nexo systems for this event, which involves long throws over the 1.5 km 'party mile', very large crowds and extensive networking demands. To ring in 2014, artecom chose to put Nexo's new modular line array, the STM Series, onto the main stage at Platz de 18.Marz in front of the Brandenburg Gate, using Nexo geo D and Geo S systems for the other two stages and for delays.

Twenty four sets of Nexo STM were used for the main stage PA, comprising 24x M46 Main and 24x B112 Bass cabinets flown left and right, with 24x S11

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14 March 2016

"We had a flying junkyard, a traditional array of a bunch of boxes. Add to this, our worship sanctuary has a lot of floor to ceiling glass windows so there was a limit to our volume levels due to the reverberation," says Jeff Sarich, sound engineer for the Church.

When it came time to make a decision on which mixers to acquire, Sarich and his team were already leaning toward a pair of Allen & Heath consoles.

"We read a lot of articles in Church production publications and online in blogs and forums. You hear the same thing over and again about Allen & Heath consoles: amazing sound, lots of features and great pricing,&

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14 March 2016

For the 12th consecutive year, Blackout worked with organisers Innovent to transform the venue for the prestigious equestrian event. The team utilised 2,500sqm of drapes to enclose the ground floor auditorium and create the entrance tunnels to the seating blocks.

The brand presence of sponsors was maximised through a wall of advertising on the outside of the arena for which the team constructed framework scaffolding to attach the banner wrap.

Chris Brain, installations director at Blackout, commented, "We also installed a backdrop of starcloth above the main competitor tunnel which we used to enhance the iconic golden galloping horse statue.

"Our draping package enables us to completely enclose an area for

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14 March 2016

Part of the UK's Institute of Acoustics annual conference programme, Reproduced Sound is the IOA's longest running conference; it is well known for its balance of papers on theoretical and practical developments. Says IoA, "We encourage you to be part of this special event and invite you to submit papers on: Perception and Quality, Intelligibility, Measurement, Loudspeakers and Microphones, Room Acoustics and Audio Technologies. All papers on the above topics will be considered. Offers of presentations or posters on any electroac

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14 March 2016

Following an extensive analysis of the Italian professional audio marketplace, Audio-Technica Europe's senior management team identified a need to establish a new approach in terms of distribution within a territory that, along with other Mediterranean countries, has been affected by issues such as the economic downturn.

Taking these issues along with the 'globalisation' of the European marketplace by large corporations and the cross-border activities of on-line retailers into account, a review of the business models that have survived for the past 30 years is now inevitable.

Both the Audio-Technica Europe and SISME management teams share a

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14 March 2016

Commenting for Flare Audio, MD Kristin Hanson said, "Our two companies have complementary backgrounds - live touring, entertainment installations, studios and events - making for an extremely powerful combination. At Flare Audio, we are introducing what is essentially a new approach to sound reinforcement, making the choice of our first major distributor absolutely key. We were looking for a company that would embrace new ideas and relish the prospect of bringing real innovation to the marketplace, while always putting the customer first. Orbital Sound has an outstanding reputation on all counts, and represents the ideal match for us."

Orbital Sound w

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14 March 2016

Hans is very familiar to Coda users throughout Europe, having been a specialist for the company's audio systems for several years. An audio engineer for over 20 years, he formed Viladco with his business partner Peter van Meensel and is very excited about the company being awarded the Coda distributorship.

"Coda is always seeking new challenges, looking to make new advances and works tirelessly to deliver the best sound reinforcement products," he says. "The company and its users are also like a real family, which is a great thing to be a part of."

As well as distributing the product and offering after-sales service, as an experienced

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14 March 2016

"As an SSL distributor for many years, we had the opportunity to be involved in many discussions regarding what would be needed in a live console of the 21st century, to cover both touring and theatre applications," says Mario Reithofer, owner of TSAMM. "We visited with SSL several times in the last three years both in Vienna and the U.K., but even I did not expect something so perfect right from the start. The Show Control System and the almost non-existent audio latency has blown us away."

"I have personally been representing SSL in Hungary for more than 15 years," says Peter Csillag, owner of AudioMonde. "When I established my own company, Audi

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14 March 2016

Lighting designer Morgan Leek wanted to illuminate the folk artist by "creating a classic feeling show: clean, minimal and refined".

"I felt that the more common LED fixtures on the market were not appropriate for the aesthetic we were shooting for," explained Leek, "so I set out to find a US vendor that could supply some great fixtures that I had come across in Europe the previous year, but had not seen a lot of on the road. This led me to Bandit, and a rig that suited our needs perfectly.

"We ended up taking out eight GLP Spot One and 16 GLP X4S. These fix

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14 March 2016

Members of ASPEC will benefit greatly from PLASA's knowledge, experience and resources. ASPEC will be working closely with PLASA's Production Equipment Rental Group (PERG), its counterpart group based in North America, discussing and sharing common rental issues which affect all those involved in the sector. It will be the beginning of a new and exciting chapter.

ASPEC has operated in its present format since 1994, comprising many of the UK's facilities companies in the film, television and broadcast industries. It will continue to be a leader in the k

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14 March 2016

Based in Tallin, E&T is a leading distributor for the entertainment industry in Estonia, with brands such as Robe and Chamsys already part of their portfolio. Founded in 1991, E&T started out as a lighting distribution company for concerts, tours and festivals, but soon realized the need for more products and services. Today, E&T works with different rental companies in Estonia including Event Center and RGB Baltic. They have been appointed lighting supplier to some of the most prestigious projects in Estonia, Birgitta Festival is one example.

Olev Luhaäär, manager at E&T comments, "LumenRadio have a stellar reputation within the entertainment industry. Their CRMX product range is the most reliable wireless products